Like most young people, I’m full of good intentions about helping to lift people out of poverty and put them on the path to economic prosperity. Unlike most young people, I’m cynical about the ability of foreign aid to help poor people; while charities have the best intentions in the world, many of them don’t actually measure whether the money they spend is making a meaningful difference. Furthermore, if aid groups work through the local government and aid makes up a significant percentage of GDP, aid may actively harm countries, by providing an incentive for local government officials to stay in power, to keep the faucet of aid flowing into their pockets. Many people are trying to fundraise to give money to Haitians, but the best thing we can do for Haitians right now has nothing to do with giving them money.

Figuring out what works in foreign aid and what doesn’t was named by a group of economists as the most exciting thing going in economics these days. The NGO I’m working for, Seva Mandir, conducts randomized experiments in northwest India to figure out what’s working in external aid, and what isn’t. They work with a whole bunch of cool economists all around the world, including Esther Duflo, who recently won a MacArthur Genius grant.

I have three goals for the trip. The first is to be more useful to Seva Mandir than the cash value of my plane ticket to and from India. The second is to say “I’m game” for any proposed activity, spicy dish or 3AM jaunt. This rule is extremely useful as it makes decision making very easy; just say yes to everything. The third is to learn how to cook. I will be able to make a mean curry by the time I fly home. I am also being very careful to avoid dog bites and to avoid making any judgments about the people I meet, for example, for going to a traditional healer to cure a disease rather than seeking modern medical treatment.

Right now I am in the New Delhi airport and visibility is about 20 feet. That didn’t stop the cab driver from speeding along at about 40 miles per hour. My cab driver was using the other cars’ horns like sonar, so he could tell where they were without having to look over his shoulder. I’m on my way to Udaipur, which was the location for the James Bond movie Octopussy. I am excited to meet the staff and begin work.

Career Services is currently searching for a replacement and has hired on an interim Assistant Director, Jason Jeffrey, to fill her position. Jeffrey, who will take over the sponsored internship program, starts at CMC on January 11.

After Dean Huang’s interview with (and ultimate decision to decline an offer from) Amherst earlier this semester, not to mention his replacement as Dean of Students by Mary Spellman, Beth Ricca’s departure rounds out something of a tumultuous semester for the administration.

Yes, we all seem to stretch the truth about what we did during the summer.

Here is an abbreviated guide to understanding what your friends really did this summer.

1. “I interned for a financial services firm in Hong Kong/Thailand/Dubai/Mother Russia”

What he really means is, “I partied, traveled, hugged elephants, only drank vodka because the tap water wasn’t infused with minerals, paraded around in madras shorts that screamed ‘Rich American’ as I wore a t-shirt that actually said ‘Rich American’ on it while I shouted ‘Seriously, I am such a rich American!’  Oh, and I occasionally made copies of TPS reports for my dad’s friend’s shipping company.”

2. “I stayed at home and studied for the LSATs/MCATs/GREs/GMATs”

“I got really, really good at playing Halo while naked, eating leftover casserole, chicken wings, and gogurt.  I also went to a Princeton Review class once a week… if I didn’t oversleep.”

3. “I worked in i-banking for <insert TARP company here>.  I worked 12 hours a day and sometimes hated my life, but I became an Excel and Powerpoint Queen and made some cash money”

This one’s pretty accurate.  Anything about how “the hours weren’t that hard” is probably a lie though.

3a.  ”I worked for a wealth management/real estate/bankruptcy trust/law office near home.  It was unpaid* but totally worth the experience and resume line.”

“I worked 10-12 hours a day filing papers and answering the phone, didn’t learn much on the job because I wasn’t trusted to do real work, but I read Perez Hilton and Drudge Report every day so I actually learned a lot.  I was also the head intern in charge of checking up on golf scores throughout the day for my boss.”

*If this person was really creative, he even convinced some CMC research institute to give him a stipend.

4. “I did auditing/consulting for <insert Big Three accounting firm here>.  I traveled to lots of client sites and partied it up with the other interns.”

This one is hard to make fun of… reasonable job, I guess. Moving along.

5. “I did outreach for a non-profit organization in Oregon dedicated to feline diabetes outreach.”

What she really means is, “At an organization dedicated to kitties, I spent a lot of time looking at LOLcats.  I got a solid $3,000 from the Kravis Leadership Institute to do this, so it was money well spent– thanks Henry! This also meant that the actual internship was unpaid so my bosses felt guilty about giving me work to do.  I occasionally got to the office by 10 AM and worked no more than three hours* per day.”

*The three hours were spent on Facebook and AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com

6. “I worked on an internet startup in Silicon Valley.”

Six months later: “The management realized that Google/Microsoft/Yahoo already did what they were trying to do, so the investors took their money back and shut it down.  I never really understood what they were trying to do anyway.”

7. “I took classes at the local community college.”

See #2; add: “and now I don’t have to take any BS joint science classes to get out of the GE requirement.  Sucka sucka.”

8. “I worked for a multinational conglomerate that required me to travel throughout Europe and Asia while making bank.  You might have seen me on TV if you were in Japan this summer.  You can find it on YouTube if you missed it.  Hold on… I’m getting a text from Silvio Berlusconi… he says he wants to party again.  Haha, bro-ski knows how to rage.”

Some people take the art of exaggeration too far.

My Fortune 500 CEO just told my secretary that he’d like me to come tell him how to run his company.  Such is the life of a summer intern, right?

Make yourself feel better by reading about the horrible lives of other interns or submit your own story. You’re not alone. Introducing FMYInternship.com.

According to Mr. Arnold, the decision to keep the stipend at $3,000 (it was $3,000 last year as well) came when the Career Services Center reported receiving a record number of applications. KLI found itself trying to raise enough money for every applicant and has been mostly successful, but is unable to raise the stipend amount this year.

“KLI elected to retain the $3,000 stipend amount in order to maximize the number of internships we could support,” said Arnold in an interview today. “The challenge is a positive one in that [Career Services and the Kravis Institute] collectively got more applications this year than have ever been received– over 180, as compared to about 130 last year.”

Although Mr. Arnold reports that the KLI will be able to support “the great majority” of applicants, he says they will not know the final numbers for at least a month because many students have applications that are not complete. This includes applicants who are waiting to hear back from their organization or are still searching for an internship. “We won’t know what the final picture will look like for another month,” says Mr. Arnold.

Since the KLI program’s pilot year five years ago, many students have come to depend on CMC’s sponsored internship program, which provides students who choose certain non-profit, unpaid internships with a stipend for living expenses such as housing and food. In the past, KLI internships have involved domestic organizations from the Heritage Foundation to Habitat for Humanity (KLI’s 2007 international internships are listed here). When asked what he would do if CMC cannot fund his internship with the Sierra Club in San Francisco, Joe Swartley ‘11 says, “I don’t know what I would do… I would probably wash cars or work at a retail store to make money.”

Other sponsored internships are available through CMC, including the McKenna International Program. The McKenna International Program is in the 9^th of a 10 year gift from Donald McKenna.

Even though the program has an application process, in past years almost all students were awarded a stipend for their internships. According to Mr. Arnold, this is not subject to change, but it is obviously more difficult to raise money for over 180 students than it is for 130 students or fewer. It is a task to raise money because funds may not come from tuition or fees paid for by students themselves. “The students contribute zero to a program that last year provided over $300,000 in stipends,” says Mr. Arnold.

“Henry Kravis has provided the institute with a lot of funding, some of which has been directed toward growing the internship program,” says Mr. Arnold. “There have been major gifts in the past couple years from [CMC Trustee] Shaw B. Wagener ‘81, and members of the KLI Advisory Board, such as Duane Kurisu [Parent '08], as well as others. President Gann has also been directly involved in securing funding.” Mr. Arnold emphasizes that a lot of people have been instrumental in supporting the programs, even though it is more of a collaborative effort than a centralized one.

Despite some disappointment from students who were anticipating more in funding, CMC’s sponsored internships have come a long way in the past five years when they were started. Three years ago, stipends were increased from $2,500 to $3,000. This year, more than $500,000 will be awarded in stipends.

“We want to be as supportive as possible, keeping in mind the increased demand,” says Mr. Arnold. “I understand the concern about funding… but it is a program that has grown because of the great support by the administration and through faculty involvement in the academic portion of the internships.”
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Example e-mail:

“Greetings, Your summer internship application has been received and reviewed for support by the Kravis Leadership Institute (KLI). Pending final confirmation from your organization of acceptance and responsibilities, I expect the KLI will be able to support your internship with a $3,000 stipend to cover expenses associated with your otherwise unpaid internship. Please continue to provide any additional relevant information to the Career Service Center. Additional information concerning academic requirements will be forthcoming. You will be required to attend an internship meeting in April to go over the requirements of the program. Details about this meeting will also be forthcoming.”